The Hudson type 4-6-4 steam locomotive No. 3463 was donated to the city of Topeka KS in 1956, when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad was transitioning from steam to diesel power for their passenger and freight locomotive fleet. This engine has been on static display at Kansas State Fairgrounds, now better known as the Kansas Expocentre, in Topeka KS, ever since.
The 3463 is one of the Hudson class of fast passenger locomotives that once carried passengers across the plains from Colorado to Illinois on the Santa Fe. The Hudsons were built by the Baldwin Locomotive works in 1937, and retired in 1953.
The locomotve has had its share of controversy over the years, with disputed ownership and sales sparking fears that the historic locomotive would be taken out of state, renovated to working order, and destroyed in the process. Long-standing lawsuits have recently been settled, and the locomotive's future in to be cosmetically restored, and remain in Topeka, most likely at the Great Overland Station (the former Union Pacific Depot).
From the Topeka Capital-Journal: (
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"Fight over Topeka locomotive ends; No. 3463 to be restored
By Luke Ranker
Posted Jan 23, 2018 at 5:48 PM
Updated Jan 24, 2018 at 3:03 PM
80-year-old locomotive at Kansas Expocentre will remain in Topeka
The long-running dispute over Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway No. 3463 — the old steam locomotive that has stood quietly near the Kansas Expocentre for more than 60 years — came to an end this past week with the engine likely staying in Topeka, though a Minnesota-based nonprofit will maintain ownership.
The Coalition for Sustainable Rail announced Tuesday it will raise funds to move the train to a base in Topeka. From there the condition of the engine, built in 1937, will be evaluated with the goal of restoring the train to full operation. If that is out of reach, Davidson Ward said the CSR will restore the train cosmetically. A lawsuit centered on who officially owned the old locomotive was settled out of court and dismissed Jan. 16.
“I’m excited to keep it in Topeka,” said Davidson Ward, president of CSR. “It has some significant history with that town. It ran to Topeka many times during its career.”
The nonprofit, also known as Sustainable Rail International, first sought the locomotive more than five years ago as part of a biofuel and steam technology project, but a group of Topekans concerned about the locomotive leaving the city and being modified challenged its ownership. Last March Shawnee County District Judge Larry Hendricks denied claims by that group, Topeka Children and Santa Fe Railroad, that they were the rightful owners.
CSR will now work with local partners, including the Great Overland Station, to find a place to restore No. 3463 and house it permanently.
“The bottom line is keeping it here will not only be an attraction for the Great Overland Station, but also for the city of Topeka,” said Bette Allen, president and COO of Great Overland Station.
Ownership saga
The settlement reached between CSR, the city of Topeka and attorneys for the Kansas Attorney General’s office ends years of debate over who owns the locomotive.
The train’s saga began in 1956 when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway donated the engine to the city of Topeka. The city maintained the train after it moved to the Kansas Free Fairgrounds, where the Kansas Expocentre now stands. The locomotive was moved to its present location near the Shunga trail after construction of the Expocentre began in the 1980s. By 1990 the city no longer wanted to pay for its upkeep and transferred ownership to Topeka Railroad Days.
Originally that organization planned to move the engine to the Great Overland Station, but lacked the funds. In 2011 the group that operates the Great Overland Station — which had by then changed its name to Railroad Heritage, Inc. — entered into negotiations for the locomotive’s sale to CSR. Ownership officially transferred to CRS in 2013.
According to court filings in the case, the city had no documentations validating ownership was ever transferred from the city to Railroad Heritage, Inc. A few months after ownership was transferred to CSR in 2013, a group of concerned citizens reinstated Topeka Children and Santa Fe Railway, a nonprofit that was created in 1956 but lost its status in 1973. That group claimed it was given ownership of the locomotive by ATSF in 1956.
In 2014 Topeka attorney Matthew Bergmann, of Frieden, Unrein & Forbes in Topeka, filed a petition on behalf of CRS aimed at ending Topeka Children and Santa Fe Railway’s ownership claim. The Kansas Attorney General’s office also became involved in the dispute to represent the public interest in preserving the locomotive’s intended purpose as a gift for the Topeka community.
In a statement Tuesday, Attorney General Derek Schmidt hailed the settlement.
“We expect this settlement to keep the locomotive based in Topeka, and I am hopeful it also will allow for the locomotive’s restoration and productive use,” he said.
Path to preservation
Originally CSR, which focuses on advancing sustainable steam and other energy sources along with promoting the preservation of historic rail equipment, planned to retrofit the locomotive to burn a wood-based biofuel. The engine would have been the centerpiece of a project testing the viability of the fuel as a stand-in for coal with a modified tender, fuel box and steam delivery system. When the lawsuit arose, CSR shifted gears and worked with the Milwaukee County Zoo to test the fuel on smaller locomotives and will run tests on a full-size engine in Pennsylvania later this month. A partnership with the University of Minnesota allows them to test the production of the biofuel.
“It would not have been irreversible at all and wouldn’t have drastically altered its appearance,” Ward said of retrofitting the engine. “With our researching moving on down the track, we’re ready to focus on our other main goal: preservation.”
CSR is in the process of securing funding to move the train to a yet-determined location for a mechanical and structural study. Moving the locomotive alone could cost up to $200,000, and without knowing more about No. 3463's condition, Ward couldn’t estimate the total cost to refurbish it.
Ideally the locomotive will move to a facility near the Great Overland Station in North Topeka for study and preservation. If it’s determined the engine can run, CSR would like to see it put to use on general railroad track in an excursion role, while being based out of Topeka. If the 80-year-old, 412,380-pound locomotive is too old to run again, Ward said it will be restored to look as it did when ATSF gifted it to Topeka in 1956 and remain on display.
Standing in the shadow of the nearly 90-foot-long engine and tender, Allen imagined an educational display for children near the Great Overland Station. For years the station has had room for a large locomotive with its other train car displays.
“It’ll be exciting,” she said. “Just to stand up next to those wheels is something.”"
From Wikipedia: (
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"The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's 3460 class comprised six 4-6-4 "Hudson" type steam locomotives built in 1937 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for service between La Junta, Colorado and Chicago, Illinois, a fairly flat division of the railroad suited for the 4-6-4 type. They were substantially larger than the road's earlier 3450 class locomotives, and all were built oil-fired, although in a manner that would allow for easy conversion to coal firing.
They had much in common with the Milwaukee Road's class F7 and the Chicago and North Western Railway's class E-4, all three types being fast, 84-inch drivered 4-6-4s for Midwestern service with 300 lb/in² boiler pressures.
In December 1937, locomotive #3461 set a world record for the longest single run by a steam locomotive by completing the 2,227 miles (3,584 km) from Los Angeles, California to Chicago without maintenance other than five refuelling stops en route, hauling Train #8, the Fast Mail Express. An average speed of 45 mph (72 km/h) was attained, including stops; maximum speed during the run was 90 mph (140 km/h). During steeply graded portions of the run it was, of course, assisted by helper locomotives. Such long distance runs were a goal of railway operating departments, enabling a reduction in locomotive numbers and through increased locomotive utilization, reduce overall costs.
The first locomotive, #3460, was built streamlined; painted light, robin's egg blue and silver, it became known as the "Blue Goose". It was the Santa Fe's only streamlined steam locomotive, featuring extensively in railroad publicity and was a railfan favorite.
Locomotive #3461 was fitted with a streamlined "skyline" casing along the top of the boiler, encasing stack and domes, in an experiment to see if it helped clear smoke away from the locomotive. It was not retained. All of the locomotives otherwise had a Santa Fe-style telescoping stack extension fitted, which elongated the stack to clear smoke better and could be lowered to pass under low bridges and tunnels.
The 3460 class 4-6-4s, the 3765 class 4-8-4s, and the 5001 class 2-10-4s were designed and ordered around the same time and had much in common in their designs; in addition, they used the same six-axle tender design. The classes together were often called the "Big Three".
Only one of this class survives, #3463, on static display on the grounds to the Southeast of the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kansas."